Thursday, July 30, 2009

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a dark comedy about an awkward teenage girl who does not fit in. Heather Matarazzo plays the nerdy loner named Dawn. Dawn gets picked on at school constantly, most notably by a boy named Brandon. Brandon plans to rape Dawn, but he changes his mind when the opportunity comes. Brandon reveals to Dawn that he has a retarded brother and Dawn starts to feel something for him. They start to hang out, but it all ends when Dawn says she is in love with another man. Dawn is in love with the lead singer of her brother's band. Even though the singer and Dawn talk once in a while, there is really nothing there. Dawn just has a crush on him and when she catches him with another woman, she realizes the mistake she made with Brandon.

With all of these problems of love and school, Dawn is also having family issues. The family favors their beautiful younger daughter and Dawn is very jealous. One night, Dawn was supposed to notify a neighbor to pick up her little sister from ballet practice. Dawn did not. The result was the kidnapping of the little girl. The family goes crazy trying to find the girl and it is all Dawn's fault.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a strange movie, but for some reason it is fascinating to watch. Matarazzo's acting isn't the best, but it works. She looks awkward and her slow delivery helps show how weird and strange her character really is.

Believe it or not, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a very realistic way to look at middle school. Even though the scenarios are exaggerated, the themes are real. Children at this age have strange thoughts of love, issues with being picked on at school, and it is a time when children are rebellious against their family. This is a strange film that everyone can relate to in one way or another.

Monday, July 27, 2009

"Orphan" is the story of a loving family who wants to adopt a little girl. The mother, named Kate, was pregnant with her third child, but she had a miscarriage. She feels that she has all this love to give, so she wants to adopt a new child. They adopt Esther from a girl's home. She is 9 years old and from Russia. She is very odd and strange, but bright at the same time. After a while, strange things start to happen when Esther is around. She starts to lie, cuss, and accidents always happen when she is near. We find out that Esther isn't such an innocent little girl. She is manipulative and violent. She threatens her new brother and sister and she is a murderer. Esther is hiding something, but no one knows what. Can the family figure out her secret in time to spare their lives?

"Orphan" is a very original horror movie. I wasn't expecting to like it, but I did. I'm glad that it was not a ghost movie or possession movie. I am so sick of those. This is just about someone who is genuinely crazy.

The movie starts to get really good when Esther shows her true self. Esther kills a woman who may take her back to the orphanage. She hides her murder weapon in the tree house and she sees her brother watching her. Her brother did not see anything, but she wants to make sure. So late one night, she goes into his bedroom with a razor blade to his neck. She makes sure that he will not say anything by threatening him. She tells him: "If you say anything, I will cut off your little hairless prick before you even know what it's used for." This is a great line and it really is the beginning of an unexpected roller coaster ride of pure evil.

Esther's new siblings know that she is evil, but they will not say anything to their parents because they fear for their lives. Kate eventually figures out that all of these bad things are happening because of Esther, but no one will believe her. Not her husband or her shrink. She is the only one that can stop Esther.

"Orphan" is a very original horror film that has a nice twist. The acting was great and the suspense was... well... suspenseful. You should really see this movie to find out what the hell is wrong with Esther.

Indiana Jones finds out that his father has been taken by Nazis. The Nazis are searching for the holy grail and Henry Jones Sr. has been spending his entire life in this search as well. Indiana sets out on an adventure to save his father and together they will find the true holy grail.

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" is a great film. I believe it is the most compelling and personal out of all the Indy films. Indiana's relationship with his father is really nice to watch. It relates to real life in the fact that Indy was the child that always tried to live up to his father's expectations. Even though he did his best to please his father, Indy always felt inadequate in his father's eyes. The adventure follows Indy and his father on the quest for the holy grail, but the holy grail that really needs to be found is their lost relationship.

The acting is again excellent in this film. Sean Connery as Henry Jones Sr. is perfectly cast. There is no one better for that part. Connery adds a dignified presence to the film along with nice humor. The funniest scenes come from Connery's reactions to the actions that Ford takes.

"Last Crusade" begins in a very fun way. Indy is shown at a young age and he is on the run to make sure that the Cross of Coronado gets into the right hands. During this chase sequence, we come to see why Indy is afraid of snakes, how he got the scar on his chin, and where he got the idea for his famous hat and leather jacket combination. River Phoenix plays a young Indy and he did a great job. Again, it was perfect casting.

Another interesting scene is when Indy travels to Berlin to get his father's journal back from the Nazis. While disguised as a Nazi, Indy runs into Hitler himself. It was Indiana Jones vs. Adolf Hitler! Imagine that! And if you haven't seen the film, I will not spoil how their encounter ends.

"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was the perfect way to end the series. It ends with Indy, Henry Jones Sr., Sallah, and Marcus Brody riding off in the sunset as that famous John Williams theme plays. It was beautiful. Then nearly 20 years later, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" came out. It was a big mistake...

Last Saturday, I saw a triple feature at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. The film fest featured "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". Since I have already reviewed "Raiders" on here, I will just review the two sequels.

"Temple of Doom" is a prequel to the events of what happened in "Raiders". The reason this is a prequel is because George Lucas did not want Indy fighting Nazis again. Instead, Indy is in India and he is trying to save a civilization from poverty by retrieving a special rock that has power over the community. He finds out that a secret cult is in possession of the stone and they have enslaved the community's children. The children are being beaten and whipped in order to find the remaining stones. With the help from the famous American singer, Willie Scott and Indy's kid sidekick, Short Round, Indy sets out on an adventure that will involve voodoo, bugs, mine cart chases, and monkey brains.

"Temple of Doom" was my favorite Indy film as a kid. It is still great, but I prefer "Raiders" now. This film has the most action out of any of the Indy movies and it never gets boring. My favorite sequence from the film is the bug tunnel and spike room scene. Everything is perfect. I love the music and Harrison Ford's acting is excellent. When the spikes start to lower and Indy is calling for Willie, it really seems like Ford is fearing for his life. He is frustrated and angry with Willie. It shows in Ford's acting.

A lot of people have a problem with Kate Capshaw as Willie, but I don't mind her too much. Yes, she is annoying, but that's fine. Indy knows she is annoying and he yells at her to shut up throughout the movie. If Indy did not acknowledge how annoying she was, then I would not like it.

Short Round is a great character. His relationship with Indy really seems to be one of true friendship. Indy is Short Round's hero and what kid wouldn't want to go on an adventure with Indy. I think having Short Round in the film is very important to a younger viewer. It makes it seem like any kid could keep up with Jones.

"Temple of Doom" is the darker second act in the original Indy trilogy. The film deals with the occult and voodoo. It is very scary and it includes several scenes of graphic violence. Mola Ram is a great villain who is truly terrifying. Unlike the Nazi villains of the other films, Mola Ram has special voodoo powers himself. With just a few words, he can gain the power to rip your still beating heart out of your chest.

"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is a great addition to the Indy series. While it might not be as important and deep in character development as the other two, it is still fun and amazingly entertaining.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Michael Myers is a messed up little kid. He lives in a family that abuses him constantly and the kids at school make fun of him. On Halloween one year, he snaps. He kills his step-father, sister, and his sister's boyfriend. He spared the life of his other sister, who was only an infant. After this, Michael was put into a mental institution and he was treated by Dr. Loomis. Loomis spent years trying to reach Michael, but nothing worked. 15 years later, Michael escapes and he heads for his hometown of Haddonfield. He is trying to find his sister and in the mean time, he kills anyone that gets in his way.

The original "Halloween" is one of my favorite movies of all time. When Rob Zombie announced that he was doing the remake, I sort of got excited. I thought he might be able to do a good remake. He did not.

My biggest problem with this film is that there is no one that you really care about. There is no one to relate to. Michael Myers is a serial killer and he is the main character. This doesn't work. Who cares if he kills a bunch of people if you don't give a crap about them. Zombie tries to make Michael's sister, Laurie, the character you can relate to, but she is terribly written. I wanted nothing more than for her to die. She was so annoying.

Zombie also has continuity problems with the character of Michael Myers. Early in the film, Myers kills Danny Trejo. Trejo took care of Myers for years while in the institution. Trejo really wanted the best for Michael. So when Myers kills Trejo, it is a shock. This murder occurs so it can show the viewer that Michael has no soul. He is a killing machine that can not be reasoned with. Now I can buy that, until the scene where Michael captures Laurie and shows her a picture of them together 15 years earlier. In this scene, Michael is sympathetic and he seems to want to establish a relationship with Laurie. Why would a killing machine want this? You can't have both personalities. It is one or the other. It didn't work.

The only thing that I liked about the movie was the mask. Although Michael looked neat, he was too tall and clumsy. In the original, Michael is swift and fluid in the way he moves. Not in this one... He seemed more like Leatherface in the Myers suit.

Rob Zombie's "Halloween" is not a great movie. While watching the movie, all I would think about is how I would rather be watching the original. John Carpenter's version is far superior than this.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Dennis Quaid plays a climatologist who has proof that the world will enter a new ice age in the distant future. Everyone believes that his theory is ridiculous, until it starts to happen.

Quaid's theory was off. This new ice age is beginning now. Tornadoes are destroying Los Angeles and the ocean is overflowing, bringing chaos to New York. After the flooding of New York, a freeze begins that will leave little to no survivors. Quaid's son, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is stuck in New York. He is with a few of his friends and they decide to stay in the New York Public Library. Quaid tells his son to remain there and do not leave the building. Quaid then embarks on a journey from Washington D.C. to New York to save the lives of his son and friends.

I love disaster movies. There is nothing more thrilling than watching famous landmarks being destroyed by water, fire, or any other natural event. With that being said, you would think that I would love "The Day After Tomorrow". Well, you would be wrong. There were only two destruction scenes and those were good. The effects were OK and it was fun to watch. But two scenes is not enough to make a good disaster movie. The rest of the film was just about people waiting out the storm and watching Quaid make his way to New York. It was really boring.

The acting was just OK in this film. It was nothing special. I mean Quaid, Gyllenhaal, and Emmy Rossum are all good actors, but this movie just does not let them show their talent.

"The Day After Tomorrow" is directed by Roland Emmerich. Emmerich made "Independence Day" and I like that film. It has good character buildup and great action sequences. "The Day After Tomorrow" just sort of seems like a quick little picture that he made to please his fans. I would put it on the same level as a made for TV movie.

There was a scene at the end of the film that I really did not like. Because the ocean has flooded into New York City, a huge ship made its way all the way to the library. The group decides to board the ship to look for supplies. At this time, they are attacked by computer generated wolves that escaped from the zoo earlier in the film. The animated wolves weren't terrible, but they were not very convincing either. This was really the last action scene in the film, and it is a real let down. Compared to the two action scenes earlier in the film, this one was just plain boring.

"The Day After Tomorrow" is slow and not very exciting. It just seemed to go on and on. It is fun to watch those two scenes I mentioned, but besides that, it was a waste of my time.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Boris Karloff plays a scientist who has invented a machine that can read people's brain waves. He believes that with further research, he will be able to read people's thoughts.

Everything was going good for Karloff. He had just shown his experiment to his peers and his daughter arrived in town for her 20th birthday. Then everything changes... Karloff's wife is killed in an automobile accident. This event changes Karloff's personality. He is no longer happy and charming. He is depressed and wants to be left alone. He goes to his laboratory and turns on his machine. All of the sudden, brain waves start to appear. The waves are exactly like the brain waves of his wife while she was alive. He believes that she is trying to reach him from beyond! Karloff works day and night trying to make his machine more powerful, so he can talk to his dead wife. With the help from an assistant and a phony medium, who is actually more in tune with the dead than she thought, Karloff believes he will once again speak with his lost love.

"The Devil Commands" is actually a pretty well done horror / sci-fi film. It is very interesting to see how modern machinery is used to make contact with the dead. It is a subject that people have been interested in since the dawn of time I'm sure.

Karloff's performance was so great. I really enjoyed seeing him in the beginning of the film. He is happy, witty, and an all around proper gentleman, much like how he was in real life. After the accident, his whole personality changes. It is as if he played two different characters. It is amazing how good Karloff is in everything that he made. He really draws you in and you sit on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next word to come out of his mouth. Very few actors have that effect on me.

"The Devil Commands" is a good B picture. It isn't a classic by any means, but it is very fun to watch. Karloff really sold the picture with his excellent acting abilities.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter. For a long while, Baxter has been letting a group of his coworkers use his apartment for their affairs. Since all of these coworkers are cheating on their wives, Baxter's apartment is the only place they can bring their women. Baxter lets them use his apartment because they will be recommending Baxter for a promotion and a raise.

When the boss of the company, Mr. Sheldrake, played by Fred MacMurray, hears about Baxter and his apartment, he gives Baxter that promotion that he has been longing for. In return, Sheldrake would like Baxter's apartment on Thursdays so he can bring his current fling there.

At work, Baxter has fallen for the elevator girl, named Fran, played by Shirley MacLaine. She runs the elevator and takes people to their desired floor. Baxter plans a date with her, but she flakes on him, leaving him in the cold. Baxter is then really hurt when he realizes that she had flaked on him because she was with Sheldrake. She is the fling Sheldrake was talking about!

One night after Baxter returns to his apartment, he finds Fran asleep in his bed. She was there with Sheldrake and now she will not wake up. She took a dozen or so sleeping pills, trying to kill herself. She does this because Sheldrake is still married and he is not leaving his wife. She is tired of being the other woman. This makes her hate her life. After Baxter finds her and has the neighborhood doctor save her, he takes care of her for the next two days. He then really falls for her and she seems to have feelings for him too, even though, she also still has feelings for Sheldrake. Baxter isn't sure what to do about his feelings because Sheldrake is still his boss. Will Fran decide to stay with Sheldrake or go to Baxter?

"The Apartment" won best picture at the Academy Awards back in 1960 and this is the first time I have seen it. It is excellent. Everyone is perfectly cast. I am not a huge Jack Lemmon fan, but I really liked his performance in this picture. He is a funny, nervous, and charming character. MacLaine as Fran is also excellent. I think this might be the first movie that I have seen with MacLaine and boy was I impressed. You really end up falling in love with her, along with Baxter.

Billy Wilder wrote and directed "The Apartment" and he did a great job. It is perfect in every way. The film was always entertaining and it never lagged.

"The Apartment", while funny, also touches on the reality of cheating husbands. It happens all the time and these girls that have affairs with married men, are sad, lonely beings. That is why you really feel for MacLaine's character. She is sad and messed up in the head, but she is coming out of it, much like the way she comes out of her drug induced state from the sleeping pills. Even though she is attracted to MacMurray, we all know that Lemmon is the right one for her. Will she come to realize this before the credits roll? Watch this film and find out.

Friday, July 10, 2009

"Public Enemies" is the story of famed bank robber John Dillinger. J. Edgar Hoover has come up with a list of public enemies to catch so the government can show the country that they are still in control. John Dillinger is on the top of the list for the various elaborate bank robberies he and his gang has committed. It is up to Melvin Purvis to catch Dillinger. The picture then plays out like a game of cat and mouse as Purvis comes close to catching Dillinger countless times.

"Public Enemies" was not that great. It had its moments, but it was pretty boring most of all. The last half of the picture got better. There are several scenes that really stand out to me. One scene that stood out, which supposedly is a true story, is when Dillinger walks into the police headquarters. He goes inside the office that spends countless hours looking for him and no one even notices him. Another stand out scene is when the police are torturing Dillinger's girlfriend played by Marion Cotillard. Cotillard's acting is excellent in this scene as her character is being beaten by the police. They are beating her so she will tell them where Dillinger is hiding. And finally, the climax of the movie was well done. Dillinger goes to a Clark Gable gangster movie and while watching the movie he is making a parallel to his own life.

The acting and cinematography was good in the movie, but overall the story lags. I never really felt a connection with any of the characters. I didn't care about any of them. There were many times in the movie where I almost fell asleep. This type of cat and mouse movie has been done countless times in film history. One that came to mind while viewing this movie was "Young Guns II". In that one, Billy the Kid is being chased by Pat Garrett. I would recommend seeing that one instead. It is a fun time!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

A group of college students are doing a documentary on Leslie Vernon. Leslie is a serial killer in the spirits of Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers. The documentary follows him as he prepares for his next batch of killings. Preparation, training, and stalking are some areas that he goes over with the crew. Once the killings begin, the documentary crew realizes that they need to stop him. They can't let him get away with murder. The mockumentary style then comes to an end and it turns into a straight slasher film. Now the documentary crew is on the run from the wrath of Leslie.

This is one of the most original and funny horror movies I have ever seen. It is brilliantly written and excellently directed. Going in and out from mockumentary to slasher film is genius. It is very funny and interesting to go inside of the mind of a serial killer and see the things that he does to prepare for a night of killings. Leslie goes over every single slasher movie cliche and explains why it is necessary and how it is done. He shows how he sabotages everything that a victim can use to get away. As the director of the mockumentary says, it is kind of like cheating, but that's the world of a famous serial killer. They need to help themselves out when they can. After all they have a lot of victims to get to. It is hilarious, especially when you picture characters like Michael Myers doing all of these preparations for his night of terror.

Leslie is a great character. He is lovable throughout the entire movie, even though we know he is a bad guy. Nathan Baesel who plays Leslie has great comedic timing and he is really great in this film. Since you have gone inside Leslie's mind and really have developed a relationship with him, it is a real shock when the mockumentary ends and he starts going after the documentary crew. He can not be reasoned with. He can not be talked to. He is a genuine, insane serial killer.

There is a great scene where Leslie goes to visit his friend who has retired from the killing game. This guy gives the documentary crew insight to what it was like in the old days to be a serial killer. He says it was all about the numbers in the past, but thanks to people like Fred, Jay, and Mike, the business has a higher level of originality and creativeness. It is funny to hear him talk about characters like Jason, Freddy, Michael, and Chucky as real people.

"Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" really is an incredible film. It is funny, scary, and all out entertaining. It is a shame that it is not more widely known because this is the kind of movie that really gives the horror genre the boost that it needs. Lately horror movies have not been original, but if more movies like "Behind the Mask" come out, I have high hopes for the future.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays a television writer/producer in her early 40s. She is single and is having trouble finding a man. A new character has been written for her show and Paul Rudd walks in to audition for the part. She instantly falls for him. They start a relationship, but they have several difficulties along the way. Pfeiffer is having a huge problem with their age difference since he is in his 20s. This causes them to temporarily break up. Besides that, their relationship is being sabotaged by Pfeiffer's assistant who wants to be with Rudd herself. She uses photoshop to make it seem like Rudd is cheating. Can a loving relationship survive all of these hijinks?

This is a very dumb romantic comedy. It was kind of like having a really bad dream. It didn't really make sense to me. Paul Rudd acts like an idiot through the entire movie and this is what makes Pfeiffer fall in love with him. They do not have one "real" conversation. It was irritating to see this. They don't give you a chance to feel for the characters because there is no emotion. I was thinking to myself that something is wrong with Rudd's character. There has to be a twist at the end. I thought the twist would be that he is really retarded and she fell in love with a mentally handicapped person. That twist never came...

Throughout the movie, Pfeiffer's daughter is learning what it is to be a woman. She just had her first period and she is in love with a boy. Pfeiffer is teaching her how to get him. It was a little strange because it kind of seemed like Pfeiffer was teaching her how to become a whore. She is 12 years old and she wears makeup that looks like something a hooker would wear.

Jon Lovitz is in this movie. He is ok.

"I Could Never Be Your Woman" is a ridiculous movie with a terrible script. I have no idea why big stars like Pfeiffer and Rudd would do this. The story could have actually worked if Rudd's character was rewritten from the ground up.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Donna is going through a tough time dealing with the death of her parents. A year earlier, an obsessed teacher, who wanted to be with Donna, came to her house looking for her. When he could not find her, he killed her family.

It is now prom night and a year later. Donna has been doing well trying to get over the terrible murder of her parents. The killer was caught and is serving a life sentence in jail. Donna and her friends go to the prom and have the most important night of their lives. Little do they know that for some, it is the last night of their life. The obsessed, murdering teacher has escaped from jail and he is killing off Donna's friends while trying to find the perfect time to approach Donna. Can Donna survive the criminal acts of this madman?

"Prom Night" was not a great movie. It is good to see another teen slasher movie, but this one did not work. I do not remember the original very much. I only remember that I did not like it. This version is rated PG-13 and that is a big problem with this movie. A slasher movie like this is supposed to show a lot of violence, but with a PG-13 rating, they were very limited. I have seen more violent things on television than what was in this movie. It all looked very phony.

A very big problem with the movie was the continuity. One thing that sticks out was a scene where the detective is trying to find Donna. Donna's friends are stopped by the detective and they tell him that she went up to the 3rd floor to find her friend. They then run to go to the 3rd floor, presumably. But no! They all run outside to get to the other detective. That detective asks if Donna has been found and they say no. Another friend says that she went up to the third floor. They then run back inside to get her. I don't really understand it. It seems like such a dumb mistake that anyone would notice.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Ronald is a nerdy loner who writes fantasy fiction. One day, while coming home, he runs into a girl who he is classmates with. After she makes fun of him and says bad things about his mother, he grabs her and forces her to say that she is sorry. When she refuses, he throws her to the ground. Her head accidentally hits a cinderblock and kills her. Ronald does not know what to do, so he deices to bury the body and come home.

Ronald's mother, played by Kim Hunter, knows that her Ronald is a good boy and she will not see him go to jail for what he did. She decides to wallpaper him in the bathroom so no one will ever find him. Ronald makes a secret passageway in the kitchen cabinet so he can get out if he has to. Ronald's mother tells him that she is going in for a long overdue surgery and that she will be back within a week. Unfortunately, Ronald's mother dies in the hospital. A new family then moves in. The new family is trying to start a new life in this new house, but they do not know that Ronald is living in their walls. Ronald soon becomes more and more crazy becoming obsessed with the fantasy fiction which he writes. He believes himself to be a prince and a girl from the new family he imagines to be his princess. Ronald decides to make contact with her and that only leads to more trouble.

"Bad Ronald" is a terrific movie. It is original and it is eerie. You really feel bad for Ronald because he never meant to kill anyone. The entire time he was just listening to what his mother told him to do. It is sad when his mother dies and he has no one left.

Kim Hunter is great in this movie. She really acts like she cares for Ronald and she wants nothing bad to happen to him. She really does love him, but her love for him is what made him crazy. She told him never to leave his secret hiding place and he never did. Ronald, played by Scott Jacoby, is a great character. He is the perfect villain where you fear him, but you also care a great deal for him.

"Bad Ronald" is a film that most people do not know about, but if you get a chance to see it, you should. It came out when TV specials were a big deal and from what I am told, this one was popular with all the kids.